Yorkicystis
''Yorkicystis'' is a genus of edrioasteroid echinoderm that lived 510 million years ago in the Cambrian aged Kinzers Formation in what is now Pennsylvania. This genus is important as it provides some of the oldest evidence of echinoderms losing their hard Mineralization (biology), mineralized outer skeletons. ''Yorkicystis'' also shows that some echinoderms lost their skeletons during the Cambrian, which is a greatly different time as to when most other species lost theirs. Discovery Fossils of this genus were first discovered in May 2017 by Christopher Haefner in a churchyard in York, Pennsylvania in shale deposits in the Emigsville Member of the Kinzers Formation. Two specimens were found, and numbered NHMUK EE 1659-1660. Aside from ''Yorkicystis'' other echinoderms like ''Lepidocystis'' and ''Camptostroma'' have been found in the formation. The species name is in honor of Haefner, who discovered the fossils, and the genus name is derived from the town of York. Description ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
2022 In Paleontology
Flora Plants Fungi Newly named fungi Mycological research * A study on the anatomy of specimens of ''Prototaxites'' from the Heider quarry in Germany and the Bordeaux quarry in Canada is published by Vajda ''et al.'' (2022), who interpret specimens of ''Prototaxites'' as fungi and as rhizomorphs. * Yang ''et al.'' (2022) describe new fossil material of '' Daohugouthallus ciliiferus'' from the Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation (China), providing evidence that this macrolichen inhabited a gymnosperm branch, and name a new family Daohugouthallaceae placed within the class Lecanoromycetes. "Algae" Floral research * Sforna ''et al.'' (2022) report the discovery of bound nickel-tetrapyrrole moieties preserved within cells of a ~1-billion-years-old eukaryote '' Arctacellularia tetragonala'' from the BII Group of the Mbuji-Mayi Supergroup (Democratic Republic of the Congo), identify the tetrapyrrole moieties as chlorophyll derivatives, and interpret ''A. tetragonala'' as one of the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Edrioasteroids
Edrioasteroidea is an extinct class of echinoderms. The living animal would have resembled a pentamerously symmetrical disc or cushion. They were obligate encrusters and attached themselves to inorganic or biologic hard substrates (frequently hardgrounds or brachiopods). A 507 million years old species, Totiglobus spencensis, is actually the first known echinoderm adapted to live on a hard surface after the soft microbial mats that covered the seafloor were destroyed in the Cambrian substrate revolution. The oldest undisputed fossils of Edrioasteroidea are known from Cambrian (Stage 3, about 515-520 Ma ago) of Laurentia and are among the oldest known fossils of echinoderms. Some authors propose that an enigmatic Ediacaran (about 600 Ma) organism ''Arkarua'' is also an edrioasteroid, but this interpretation did not gain wide acceptance. Last edrioasteroids are known from Permian (Late Kungurian, about 270-280 Ma). Anatomy The body plan for this class was simple: a main body (thec ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Edrioasteroid
Edrioasteroidea is an extinct class (biology), class of echinoderms. The living animal would have resembled a pentamerously symmetrical disc or cushion. They were obligate encrusters and attached themselves to inorganic or biologic hard substrates (frequently hardgrounds or brachiopods). A 507 million years old species, Totiglobus spencensis, is actually the first known echinoderm adapted to live on a hard surface after the soft microbial mats that covered the seafloor were destroyed in the Cambrian substrate revolution. The oldest undisputed fossils of Edrioasteroidea are known from Cambrian (Cambrian Stage 3, Stage 3, about 515-520 Megaannum, Ma ago) of Laurentia and are among the oldest known fossils of echinoderms. Some authors propose that an enigmatic Ediacaran (about 600 Ma) organism ''Arkarua'' is also an edrioasteroid, but this interpretation did not gain wide acceptance. Last edrioasteroids are known from Permian (Late Kungurian, about 270-280 Ma). Anatomy The body plan ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Helicoplacoid
Helicoplacoidea is an extinct class within the Echinodermata. All known taxa were discovered in sediments dating back to the Cambrian.Fossilworks: Helicoplacoidea ''fossilworks.org''. Retrieved 2021-01-13. Description Helicoplacoid skeletons consist of small platelets arranged like those of , lacking fused skeletons as in . Little is known about their ecology, besides that they were most likely sessile suspension feeders. Members of the group were able to expand and contract their bodies, and some have speculated that ...[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Echinodermata
An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the sea lilies or "stone lilies". Adult echinoderms are found on the sea bed at every ocean depth, from the intertidal zone to the abyssal zone. The phylum contains about 7,000 living species, making it the second-largest grouping of deuterostomes, after the chordates. Echinoderms are the largest entirely marine phylum. The first definitive echinoderms appeared near the start of the Cambrian. The echinoderms are important both ecologically and geologically. Ecologically, there are few other groupings so abundant in the biotic desert of the deep sea, as well as shallower oceans. Most echinoderms are able to reproduce asexually and regenerate tissue, organs, and limbs; in some cases, they can undergo complete regeneration from a single limb. Geolo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Helicoplacus
''Helicoplacus'' (often misspelled ''Helioplacus'') is the earliest well-studied fossil echinoderm. Fossil plates are known from several regions. Complete specimens were found in Lower Cambrian strata of the White Mountains of California. The animal was a cigar-shaped creature up to long that stood upright on one end. Unlike more typical echinoderms such as sea stars, ''Helicoplacus'' does not have fivefold symmetry. Instead, there is a spiral food groove on the outside along which food was moved to a mouth that is thought to be on the side. The respiratory system appears to be primitive. Although the animal does not look like a typical echinoderm, the plates are composed of the characteristic calcareous plates known as '' stereom'' that are common to all echinoderms. The ambulacrum is similar to that of the Edrioasteroidea; as a result, ''Helicoplacus'' may belong to Pelmatozoa. Other contemporaneous echinoderms are known to have existed from their dissociated plates, but other ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Helicocystis
''Helicocystis'' is a stalked, spiralling pentaradial echinoderm known from the Cambrian Jbel Wawrmast Formation JBEL may refer to: * A variation on the name Jabal * ''Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship and the Law'' (JBEL), a publication of Pepperdine University School of Law See also * * Jabal (other) Jabal, Jabel, Jebel or Jibal may refer t .... References Prehistoric echinoderm genera Helicoplacoidea {{Paleo-echinoderm-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Cambrian
The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million years ago (mya) to the beginning of the Ordovician Period mya. Its subdivisions, and its base, are somewhat in flux. The period was established as "Cambrian series" by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name for 'Cymru' (Wales), where Britain's Cambrian rocks are best exposed. Sedgwick identified the layer as part of his task, along with Roderick Murchison, to subdivide the large "Transition Series", although the two geologists disagreed for a while on the appropriate categorization. The Cambrian is unique in its unusually high proportion of sedimentary deposits, sites of exceptional preservation where "soft" parts of organisms are preserved as well as their more resistant shells. As a result, our understanding of the Ca ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Lepidocystis
''Lepidocystis'' is a Palaeozoic genus of imbricate lepidocystoid eocrinoid, closely related to '' Kinzercystis'', It bore a stalk, with which it attached to firm substrates; and brachioles arising as lateral branches from its arms. It is only known from the late Botomian = Cambrian Series 2 Cambrian Series 2 is the unnamed 2nd series of the Cambrian. It lies above the Terreneuvian series and below the Miaolingian. Series 2 has not been formally defined by the International Commission on Stratigraphy, lacking a precise lower boundary ... Kinzers Formation. References Cambrian echinoderms Blastozoa Blastozoa genera {{Cambrian-animal-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |